Road Sign Fence

Intro: Road Sign Fence

For the 2010-2011 academic year, I have been the construction manager for the Greensboro, Alabama chapter of YouthBuild. YouthBuild (http://www.youthbuild.org) is a national program funded by the Department ...

Step 5: Pickets 2

For the 2010-2011 academic year, I have been the construction manager for the Greensboro, Alabama chapter of YouthBuild. YouthBuild (http://www.youthbuild.org) is a national program funded by the Department of Labor that provides low-income young people a chance to study for their GED and acquire trade skills, all while earning a small stipend for their labor. This fall, my students and I built a fence adjacent to our campus. It encloses a playground constructed by the Rural Studio (http://www.ruralstudio.org) in 1997 and currently used by a daycare center. The local county and state highway engineering offices donated old road signs, which we then cut, sanded, filed, and drilled to create pickets. Using jigs and a self-organized assembly line, the students manufactured nearly a thousand pickets for roughly 225 linear feet of fencing. By cutting and randomly re-assembling the signs, the graphics were broken and rebuilt into a new collage of abstract symbol and color.

Unfortunately, the new Congress has voted to completely eliminate YouthBuild's funding in the next budget, potentially causing all 273 YouthBuild affiliates to shut their doors once their funding runs out. In 2007, the most recent year figures were available to me, YouthBuild cost the federal government $50 million dollars. This represents a mere .00039 percent of America's current deficit, yet, by some studies, YouthBuild generates $9 of economic output for every $1 spent on it. We are working hard to get America's economy back on track by training skilled workers and helping young folks help themselves rise above their circumstances. Please help us by signing this online petition in favor of YouthBuild's continued funding: http://www.change.org/petitions/save-youthbuild-act-now-2#?opt_new=t&opt_fb=t

I would also like to thank the YouthBuild staff: Jon Carter, Dakesha Greene, Dan O'Hara, RaMell Ross, Ron Ross, Carter White, and Sara Williamson. Thanks to RaMell for the first ten photos and several more throughout (http://www.ramellross.com)

Step 1: Pickets

First, locate some road signs. You'll need a lot. We had the local county and state highway yards donate their old signs, as they are very difficult to recycle. The reflective coating on the aluminum makes it tough to melt them down without letting off a lot of toxic fumes or letting a lot of impurities into the metal.

Given 3" wide pickets, with 1-1/4" gaps, it takes 22 pickets to run 8' horizontally; it takes 44 pickets to run 8' if the fence is two tiers high, or 6' tall. Accounting for the kerf (amount of material that must be subtracted to account for the width of the sawblade), you can get 11 pickets out of a 3' sign. However, a lot of signs or portions of signs had to be discarded due to bullet holes, excessive dents or bending that couldn't be hammered out, or other damage.

We cut our signs by clamping a guide board to the sign to run a circular saw against, then slicing the aluminum with a carbide finishing blade. Carbide teeth are hardened, and the finish blades have a lot more teeth, making for a smoother cut. It was quite loud, but it cut surprisingly smoothly. Once the signs got too small to hold and cut safely with the circular saw, we fed them through an old table saw with a carbide blade on it. Aluminum is a very soft metal, and cuts quite easily.

Then, each picket had four mounting holes drilled in it, using a jig to position the holes. Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures of the jig, but it was basically a wood frame that held the picket, with a movable guide piece to precisely place the holes.

The most important step, safety-wise, especially since the fence was going around a daycare, was to sand the edges to remove any burrs, and knock down the corners with a file. 60-80 grit sandpaper will sand aluminum quite nicely, and a standard metal file rounded off the corners. We went over each one with bare hands to feel for any missed spots, then bundled them in stacks of 22.

very nice use of recycled material. i didnt even know you could get old road signs <br>

Good for you and what you're doing.

Wow. This is absolutely fantastic! A job very well done by all!

This is ace

a night photo with headlights or big flash would look great, super high viz fence,sharp edge security,easy clean and lasts for ages. if i built one id be arrested for theft of public property.

The signs were decommissioned and donated by the city. And don't tripple post please.

sorry not deliberate, not sure what going on there x3.super donation!

LOVE THIS IDEA!!!

nice lovely

I love your sign fence iv always wanted to do something like this like a license plate roof or something i agree with drbill its realy redneck im from west virginia myself and iv seen a couple but not like this there just road signs wired to a chain-link fence but yours is AWESOME

Your fence is awesome! I would love to have a fence like that. I hope more people do this and make use of these old signs. I would if I could. Great job!

its incredible that those signs go to waste, but your fence is a piece of art, nice work

There are a bunch of instructables on here that use road signage. If nothing else, you could sell some of the signs to city people on the Eday or Craigslist and get some startup money. If people like the look of your fencing, sell it in unassembled sections. DIY for the far off homeowner!<br><br>Sorry for rambling on so much, my inner capitalist just went into overdrive!

Who needs funding? If you can still get those signs free, you and the kids can make all sorts of things and sell them yourselves! It would be EXCELLENT learning in trades, business, and marketing! <br><br>I am sure there is some kindly person(s) to help with tools to use. With all of that raw material I think the sky is the limit for all of you!

now that, is really cool. i wish more people would do this, fences like these are so nice to look at!

a lot of homeowners associations wouldn't allow it

Yes Sir most of them do not and will not have a sense of humor, but we who live otherwise are in luck and this project looks like fun, and a team effort .

Hey cool! <br>I live in Huntsville my friend!<br>Good stuff!

I love seeing repurposing at work. Great job wholman!!

lol This is so redneck, I love it !<br><br>You ever hear Jeff Foxworthy ?

They're in Alabama. They've heard of Jeff Foxworthy ;)

The difference between the inside and outside views is really striking, and really highlights the lost potential for color and art of most fences.

&quot;...a lot of signs or portions of signs had to be discarded due to bullet holes, excessive dents or bending that couldn't be hammered out, or other damage.&quot;<br><br>That's called &quot;character&quot;.

That is such a creative work of art, great way to recyle as well. <br> <br>Goin to sign the petition!

Hook your tape measure to the blade of the PHD (post hole digger). Use a Sharpie or other permanent marker to place tick marks at 1/2 inch intervals along the handles. This way, you know the depth of the hole as you dig and do not have to stop every few buckets to measure.

Awesome, bummer about Youthbuild's funding, I used to work with Americorps and Youthbuild in Lawrence MA and the stuff they did was awesome and great for the community, I've signed your petition! Great Work btw!

Nice Work and creative! Greensboro is about a two hour drive from here. 3 hours from Huntsville depending on traffic and the &quot;Southern Foot&quot; Next time I'm in Greensboro, Ill check it out.

Nice!!

Great Project!&nbsp; I hope you can maintain funding for your organization.&nbsp; Our current government seems to be determined to eliminate any programs that actually invest in our future.<br> <br> Check out this similar project I saw in Meadville, PA (not my website):<br> <br> <a href="http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/art,meadville">http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/art,meadville</a><br> <br> <br>

I would love to see it up close and meet all of you. It's art in so many ways. Thanks so much for telling and showing us the pictures of this inovative project. Well Done!!!!

nice work!

Good luck getting YouthBuild back up! it sounds like a worthy organisation.